Letter to the Editor

Jan 20, 2003

Following are responses to an FCW.com poll question that asked: "Do you favor dividing the Senior Executive Service into a corps of managers and a corps of technical experts?"

I favor splitting the Senior Executive Service corps into managerial and technical groups, if only to help rectify the problems that the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) has foisted onto the Defense Department's technical laboratory community.

We ignored DAWIA here for years, stating that we were scientists and engineers, not acquisition program managers. We were finally forced to pay attention to DAWIA by external powers.

Some would say that this was good, but I would say, "Good for what?" As far as I can tell, the only use has been as another roadblock and excuse for not promoting people if they aren't DAWIA-certified.

If the SES corps is split, then maybe sanity will regain a foothold in the science and technology community, and we can do our jobs without unnecessary distractions.

Name withheld by request

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To get the technical talent that is so desperately needed, many SES candidates are put in management positions where they are less than successful.

There is a need for both technical expertise and management expertise, and a dual track would provide the best talent for the government.

Name withheld by request

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